Due to the increasing number of cases of omicron, some cruise ships are adding requirements to the COVID-19 vaccine booster.

P&O Cruises now require a vaccine booster to board a ship.

P&O Cruises is a cruise from the United Kingdom with a 35-night voyage scheduled on January 3, 2022. This cruise line recently notified customers that they would need to show proof of the presence of such a vaccine booster against COVID-19.

Until this week, the line required passengers traveling to the Caribbean to be "fully vaccinated" against COVID-19. This means that guests have to have two doses of an approved COVID-19 vaccine.

The new booster requirement applies to the January 3, 2022 sailing on the 3192-passenger Ventura P&O Cruises.

Cunard Line, a subsidiary of P&O Cruises, also plans to introduce a booster requirement for a 28-day voyage from Southampton to the Caribbean, scheduled to begin on January 14 on Cunard's iconic ship Queen Mary 2.

In a letter sent to passengers booked this cruise, Cunard said they would need to show proof of booster shot in addition to evidence of full vaccination against COVID-19  at least a week before the start of the trip.

Cunard noted that they have to implement boost shot requirements due "length and complexity" of the 28-day itinerary. They need to do their best to "protect the health and well-being of our guests, crew, and the communities we visit."

The route includes two long crossings of the Atlantic Ocean, stops on six Caribbean islands, and visits to the Atlantic islands of Madeira and Tenerife.

Queen Mary 2 is currently on another 28-day voyage from Southampton to the Caribbean. It was interrupted by positive cases of COVID-19 on board. The vessel with 2,695 passengers missed several stops at the port and spent additional days in a dock in Barbados. The ship will miss the upcoming stop in New York on its way back to the UK.

Cunard offers passengers on this cruise a proportional refund for the part of the interrupted trip. The line says that passengers sailing on January 14 who cannot meet the new accelerator requirements can switch to a later voyage or request a full refund.

The cruise industry has been the most aggressive segment of the tourism industry, requiring customers to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Most of the world's major cruise lines require all or most passengers to be fully immunized against COVID-19— a policy that many cruise lines have implemented since the first days of resuming operations in 2021.

All major cruise lines in the world suspended their operations in early 2020 after the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic, and most of them have not resumed flights for more than a year.

On December 30, 2021, the  U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advised all cruisers, regardless of the status of the vaccine, to avoid cruising. This is due to an increase in the number of cases of omicron.

The cruise industry has been highly critical of this recommendation.

"The decision by the CDC to (recommend that travelers avoid cruising) is particularly perplexing considering that cases identified on cruise ships consistently make up a very slim minority of the total population onboard—far fewer than on land—and the majority of those cases are asymptomatic or mild in nature, posing little to no burden on medical resources onboard or onshore," the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA) said in the statement

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